Through the Wormhole and Back Again
by FoxChandelier
Summary: World through world, she travels. Looking for salvation, she crosses through space and time to save that which she cares about. (Gladion/Moon. Technically AU)
1. The World Without a Moon

I'm not dead yay

* * *

(The first world is _her_ world.)

Moon remembers it well, remembers the way light shone on buildings of brick and stone and how the stars sparkled in a sea of black. She remembers Alola, in all its sunny glory, sparkling with the light of the sun, the moon, and the celestial bodies of far-away places.

It is there she starts off her journey: young, naive, innocent, and with the foolish belief of immortality in her hands. She was going to be the best trainer there was, going to climb to the top of Alola's pyramid of Kahunas and Trial Captains and prove herself worthy.

That is, until the light that kept their world afloat slipped into darkness and suddenly the rug of her childish beliefs was pulled out from under her.

Left in a place without light, Moon learnt to grew jaded and wary of all that awaited her. Danger lurked in corners formerly left full of friendly faces. The disappearance of the light leaves everyone in a state of anarchy, people fighting people and Pokemon fighting Pokemon as resources grow scarce and the world grows colder.

Moon, however, is a survivor. With her team beside her, she accumulates a hoard of resources that allows her safety and protection. She's spent many months collecting valuable items - bottles of water, cans of food, various other objects she's taken to steal in a fancy - but survival is barely a second thought when her team is the strongest around.

Then, one day, Moon meets a wandering soul who bests her. He is a boy searching for medicine for his sister, standing tall with a strange creature by his side. His gaze has caught hers in an attempt to transport potions to her ailing mother. He demands the goods in her hands, words desperate yet somehow confident as he asks for her compliance.

But Moon doesn't trust strangers – much less ones that make up bogus claims to get what they want – and her Decidueye is in front of her at a moment's notice. The boy recoils, sending out his nightmarish creature – Type: Null – before they begin to battle.

Moon is confident she can win. She's one of the strongest trainers in all of Alola (barring the Kahunas) and there's no way some boy off the streets will be beating her in a battle.

Except he does, and she's left deprived of the medicine to help her mom. The boy, however, does not abscond into the darkness of the world like she might suspect he would. Instead, he gifts her an apology and a promise: he would return the favor of her honoring her word.

The stranger leaves at that and Moon is left empty-handed as she arrives at her mother's place of rest. Her mom – her sweet, kind, innocent mom – is resting atop a bed made from a stolen mattress and stolen sheets. The woman doesn't stir in her presence, doesn't prop up her head to greet her daughter, and Moon feels herself holding back tears as she clasps her mother's hands.

"I'm sorry," she says, watching as a Blissey stares at her from a corner, sulking as it runs a Heal Pulse through her mother's body. "I don't have the medicine."

She sits at her mother's side and listens to her labored breaths. A nearby lantern sheds yellow light upon the sweat building on her mom's skin. Moon feels helpless. She'd been searching weeks for a medicine of that quality, for a medicine capable of curing ailments such as this. She'd nearly lost Salamence for it too, her prized Pokémon almost torn apart by a group of thugs who had sought to make a profit.

And, before she could even administer the drug, it was swept out of her hands by a boy claiming to need it more than she did. It was unfair and cruel and she couldn't help the burning anger that burned in her throat day after day as her mother weakened.

Then, one day, someone enters Moon's hide-away without her permission. Secured in the basement of a house whose owners Moon used to know, Moon has made sure that the fortifications of her hiding space are enough to ward off intruders.

For one, she has Decidueye on constant guard duty, the ghost owl monitoring the house and its surroundings almost daily.

For another, the rest of her team is staked at various places, ready to maim and fight off intruders if need be.

So, the fact that she hears nothing but silence when the door to the basement opens makes her instantly on alarm. Decidueye and the others wouldn't be so weak as to let any old trainer defeat them. They were strong and capable of putting up a massive fight. Yet, she had yet to hear the sounds of scurrying upstairs or the roar of Lycanroc as it battered its opponents to death. And the question was: why?

Well, she soon gets her answer.

Climbing down the ladder with a bag clutched to his chest is a boy Moon has met before. Instantly, she's on alert, calling Blissey to her side as the stranger greets her with an awkward nod of his head.

"Why are you here?" She asks him point-blank. "What did you do to my team?"

"The Pokémon upstairs?" The boy blinks upwards and then shakes his head. "They let me in. Specifically, your Decidueye did."

Moon blanches at that. "Decidueye!" She calls, knowing her partner can hear her voice anywhere.

The ghost owl manifests beside her, amber eyes glowing as it greets her gaze. It turns to look at the boy, then at her, and makes a gesture that Moon can roughly interpret as: "he has something of interest to you".

She grimaces at her starter, wondering what the boy could have said to make her Pokémon so compliant, when she notices the bag in his hands. It's a sack made of leather, a kind of commodity Moon hasn't seen in ages, but when the boy takes notice and slips off the packaging, she nearly gasps.

It's the same type of medicine that she once gave him, the one her mother needed.

"This is for you," he says, holding the item outwards like he's afraid to deliver it to her personally. "I told you I would repay you."

Moon looks at the medicine with such longing that she forgets to maintain a poker face. She shakes the emotion from her face, ignoring how she wants to run to him and pluck the good from his hands, and stares. "This is a trap, isn't it? Where's your Pokémon?"

The boy stares at her with some amount of surprise and then shakes his head. He reaches for something behind him, making her tense, before he holds up a Pokeball and gives a small smile. "In here."

He looks at her expectantly, holding the medicine in his hand still, when he beckons it to Decidueye instead. "If you don't trust me, take it yourself." The ghost owl peers at its master and, when Moon nods at it, it vanishes and then reappears to take the medicine and hop back to Moon's side. She grabs the item in its wings and enjoys the euphoria of hope that comes with holding the medicine she so desperately needs.

In her excitement, she completely forgets about the boy's presence to run to her mother's side. The cap is off the medicine in an instant, a safety seal attached to the top of the bottom's neck proving its authenticity. Moon tips the potion to her mother's lips, lifting up her mother's head as she slowly pours the drink down.

Blissey is beside her, doing its best to keep track of her mother's condition, and when the drink is all gone it nods its head at her in hope.

Moon retreats, almost collapsing to the ground in her haste, when she bumps into something too soft to be a stone wall. There's a moment of surprise as she whirls around, realizing that the boy has come close to her without warning. She nearly calls Decidueye to pin him down, bristling at his unwanted presence when he remarks:

"So you wanted to save someone too."

Wary confusion takes a hold of her as she watches him step back, cupping his chin as he stares at her mother. She sweeps her hands up in a defensive position, separating her mom from the stranger.

"What else would I use medicine like that for?" She snaps back.

"To sell to others," his eyes flick to her and there's a distant kind of anger in his eyes as he says it. "To rob people of their possessions in exchange for the lives of others. That's the kind of people I took that medicine from. They didn't deserve it."

There's a hanging silence in the air and Moon realizes with a start that she's left something unsaid. So, with a grimace and an awkward bow to him, she mutters a quick thank you before she can change her mind.

He nods. "You seem like a good person," he says to her. "I don't like taking that for granted."

The boy turns to leave but Moon can't let him leave like that. She bites her lip, thinking herself stupid for hesitating so much before she asks him: "What's your name?"

"Gladion," he says, the word smooth on his tongue. He looks back at her. "Yours?"

"Moon."

He looks her over and nods. "It fits."

"What does?"

"Your name," Gladion smiles a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "You remind me of the moon. Distant, far-away, but still providing light even in times of darkness." He seems to smile at himself before shaking his head and sighing. "I must be going now."

He begins to ascend the rungs to her ladder and she lets him. She hears the click of the hatch and then crumples to her knees. Decidueye lets out a soft hoot, nestling beside her.

"I'm sorry," she says to it, apologizing over nothing and yet apologizing anyways.

Decidueye cocks its head, sweeping a wing around her shoulders as if to offer comfort. She leans into it, enjoying the velvety touch of feathers upon her face.

There's a stir from behind her and Moon spins around to see her mother sitting up. "M…oon?" The woman asks.

"Mom!" She rushes forward, tossing her arms around her. Her voice is almost a sob as she nestles close, a hand rubbing her back.

"What happened?" Her mother asks. "Last I remember, you were going out to grab some supplies. And then…well, I can't really remember."

"You caught a rare kind of sickness," Moon says. "I had to look for weeks to find medicine for you. It's a bit of a complicated story, but I ended up receiving it from a stranger."

"A stranger?" Her mother's eyes flare with caution. "Why would you-?"

"He gave it to me as thanks," she says, quietly, "because I gave him the original medicine I intended for you and kept my word. Or, that's what he told me."

Her mother takes a deep breath. "Still…"

"I know, don't trust strangers. But, mom, he's strong. Really strong. I don't…there's nothing I can do if he decides to go against us."

There was an unsaid fear that struck the room. In a world without light, the strong ruled over those who could not beat them. The darkness of the world had made its inhabitants cruel. And, no matter how kind Gladion had appeared, Moon knew better than to assume his kindness was formed from the niceness of his heart.

* * *

It takes a bit, but after some time spent recovering from her illness her mother is able to walk again. The woman is strong and resilient, eager to be in shape again.

After coming into her house, Moon hadn't seen a trace of Gladion since he left. It set her at ease, in a way. As long as he was around, he was a threat. And, Moon didn't take kindly to threats. But, even if she retaliated, she would be no match for his Type: Null. The chimera creature was powerful, strangely so, and her mere memory of it sends remindful shudders down her spine.

It's on a Sunday night that Moon finds a strange pair who's on the run. A girl named Lillie and a boy named Hau beg for safety, pleading for her help as she manifests with a Decidueye by her side. A bright ball of stardust – a tiny creature made from what remains of light in the world – catches Moon's attention. It sits cradled in the girl's arms, shining like a beacon in a sea of black.

"Please," they say, "we need your help. _They_ are after us."

Moon cocks her head at them as does her Pokémon. The girl feels no need to help strangers, much less a girl that vaguely reminds her of Gladion or a boy who clings to the girl like a Remoraid to a Mantine.

"And who are they?" Moon looks down at them both. "Answer truthfully and I might feel obligated to help you."

"It's…it's my family," the girl chokes out. "They want to…they want to wipe out what remains of humanity. It's," she shakes, leaning against the touch of the dark-skinned boy, "no where's safe for us. No where's safe for you, either. They're coming after everyone, no matter who you are."

The girl chokes on her own voice and Moon can't help but feel that she isn't acting. The ball of stardust shakes before them, as if emphasizing with its trainer's pain, and Moon lets loose a sigh as she offers them a hand.

"Come with me," she tells them.

They obey without hesitation, scrambling close to her as they do so. In a way, they remind her of children, wide-eyed and shaking with only a ball of stars to light their way.

Her mother gives her a disapproving glance as she shoves the two strangers inside, but her harsh glare turns into something soft as she notices their state of being.

"Poor things," she says, gaze looking over their shredded clothes and clucking her tongue. "Here, come on in and I'll fix you both a meal."

The girl and boy nod in thanks, standing awkwardly in the doorway until Ampharos appears to guide them to the kitchen. Its horns spark with electricity, providing a beacon of light in the darkness of the house.

Her mother gets to work in the kitchen, requesting Magmortar's help for cooking up a fire, while Moon attends to her guests. "What are your names?" She asks.

"Lillie," says the girl.

"Hau!" says the boy with a nervous grin stretched on his face.

"Who were you running from?"

"A group called Aether Foundation," Lillie says, softly. "You might have heard of them."

"Aren't they a peace-based organization?"

"They were that, yes, before the light was stolen," Lillie twirls a piece of hair around her finger. "But then they changed."

"Everything changed," Hau adds, as if speaking Moon's silent thoughts.

There's a moment of silence before Lillie continues. "We're on the run from them right now. But they…they want to kill everyone on this planet. To exterminate them. That's their goal. In order to make a world safe for Pokémon, they want to kill off humans."

"Okay but…" Moon frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why kill humans in particular?"

"My m-…the president of Aether isn't exactly a sane person," Lillie gives a sour smile. "She has this…delusion…that the only way she can get the love she wants from the Pokémon she loves is by killing off all other humans. She's even gone after her own kids to appease it."

"I…wow. If what you're saying is true than this-"

"It is true!" The girl suddenly shouts, hands slamming down on a nearby table in a way that makes Moon jump. Lillie bites her lip and then looks at her lap where the creature made of stardust whimpers helplessly. "It's true. Please believe me."

"Alright," Moon says, not quite true in her words, "I believe you."

Lillie nods in silence. Hau wraps an arm around her shoulder, hugging her close. They stay that way for quite some time until Moon's mother delivers some bowls of soup for them to partake in. They gather into different seats, eating silently, when the smell of something awful fills the room.

Hau is instantly on alert, tossing forth a Pokeball that unleashes a Primarina within the vicinity. Decidueye is already at Moon's side when the beautiful seal appears, but its attention is not on Hau's Pokémon. Instead, it's gaze moves back to where a pack of Houndoom have appeared, slinking in like reapers as flames drip like saliva from their mouths.

"Oh no," Lillie says, standing up and clutching her stardust creature close to her chest. "They're here."

Moon has little time to think as she calls for Lycanroc to appear. The wolf rushes to her side, red eyes burning bright as the Houndoom prowl closer. She can hear the whoosh of Salamence's wings outside, the crackled of electricity from Ampharos a little ways away, the hum of Blissey just around the corner, and the neighing of Rapidash from somewhere in the distance. However, nothing can stop the way Lillie's creature suddenly glows without warning, light washing over its body before its arm grabs Moon's own and the world goes topsy-turvy

The girl blinks once, and the scenery changes. Decidueye is braced beside her, its head whirling in confusion, before Moon takes notice of the house burning before them and the awful screams that come from inside. Moon recognizes the scream of her mother while Lillie seems to recognize the screech of what Moon assumes to be Hau.

"No, no, no." Lillie looks at her creature, shaking it desperately as she pleads with it: "Take me back! Take me back there! We have to save Hau, please!"

But the creature only whimpers and shakes its head, its fear evident in the way it hugs close to her and does little else. Moon watches with horror as the Houndoom from before crawl out of the building, smirking with menace as they approach.

"Those Houndoom they're-" Lillie shakes "-they're Aether's hellhounds. They're here to kill us."

As if sensing her fear, the hounds draw closer. Decidueye nocks an arrow, eyes narrowing, before a strange creature jumps between them both. Moon recognizes it in an instant. How can she forget it, with that eerie mask and chimeric features?

"Lillie!" A voice calls, and Moon watches as Type: Null's trainer hurries to their sides. "Lillie, are you alright? I didn't know if I would make it but-"

Gladion looks to Moon, his eyes wide with surprise as he sucks in a breath. "You…" He says, before shaking his head and looking straight ahead. "There's no time. We need to run."

But, soon enough, it becomes clear there's nowhere left to run. Among the ranks of the Houndoom appear Manectric, Pangoro, and Bewear, all of which look upon the three with cruel eyes. Type: Null howls, retreating to its master's side as it shrinks away with the realization of being unable to win.

There is little time to think as the Pokémon come upon them. Moon is dodging attacks left and right as the creatures come for her head, fire burning and electricity cackling all around her. She hears Gladion and Lillie shouting, hears the roar of Type: Null as it gives its opponents a fight, but all she can think of is Decidueye and escaping.

Still, in a horde of creatures going for her throat, Moon can't find escape easily. A barrage of attacks strike down all around her, and she finds herself back to back with Gladion against her will. The boy seems unaware of her presence, commanding his Type: Null with striking efficiency until a stray blow knocks it to the side.

"Null!" Gladion shouts. The boy calls for it to get up but, when it fails to do so, he rushes to its side.

In the same moment, Lillie is yanked from her creature's side, a Bewear pulling her into the crowd of attackers. The ball of stardust cries for its trainer, screaming loudly, before Moon picks it up and the creature begins to wail. It shakes its arms, flailing, before it glows again and sends everyone pausing for a second.

"Moon!"

The girl hears Gladion's shout and turns to him. His eyes are wide, his face flushed pale, before suddenly the world before Moon distorts and a swirling white wormhole appears. A strange pull acts upon her, pulling Moon in before she can react, and the darkness of the world is snuffed out by the closing of her eyes.

* * *

This was originally written for the day 1 prompt for lonashipping 2019 week: I will try again. However, due to lacking time and realizing that I'd have to split this up into chapters, this has become it's own project. There will be nine chapters in total (maybe ten if the last chapter gets crazy long) and currently I have 2/9 chapters done with the third one being almost finished.


	2. Glutton of Destruction

(The second world she visits is a world of the apocalypse.)

Moon's feet catch on the lining of metal walls as she slips out from the wormhole, the travel taking its toll on her as she slumps to her knees. She can barely breathe, fingers clawing into the floor of some facility as she heaves for oxygen. The whirling sound of the wormhole softens beside her, spluttering, before Moon sees the distortion sink in upon itself and disappear.

Something is pressed to her lips and, on instinct, she scrambles to shove it off. Overhead, a strange gray shape looms over her, stained by streaks of blue and orange. Her gaze can barely register the thing before her and, in the haze of her mind, all she can think about is kicking and screaming. She doesn't have the air to scream, however, so she resorts to use of her fists and legs to ward her attacker off.

In doing so Moon exhausts her air supply and she finds herself weakening immensely, gagging until her body can no longer resist. The object is pressed insistently on her lips and Moon can barely feel the sensation of something being strapped to her face. She wants to struggle, to fight, to get away, but instead she lies in wait for the thing that stands over her to devour her whole.

"So this is how I die," she chokes out in a bitter laugh.

"Not if I can help it," a muffled voice responds, deep in tone and firm in its insistence.

Moon hears the chirping of some mechanism and, at once, she finds her lungs filled with air. She coughs, the rush unexpected, and then greedily sips in the air like water, lapping it up with a desperation previously unbeknownst to her.

"There you go," the apparition says, "you should be fine now."

Moon blinks up at the gray figure, confusion dizzying her mind. The figure's voice is familiar. Yet, she's sure she's never made friends with a gray blob that could speak her language.

"Why'd you come back here?" The figure asks, bending down beside her. "Especially without the proper equipment? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Something like nausea bites at her and she gags at the taste of bile in the back of her throat. "I have no clue what you're talking about," she tells it. Him. _Whatever_ the thing is.

The figure's orange eyes gleam at her. Her head spins but, as the fog invading her mind begins to leech out of her system, she realizes with a start that those aren't eyes. They're goggles, one's fit into place around a humanoid head on a figure that's cloaked in gray and blue rubber. A gas mask is fit around the area where the mouth would be, an eerie noise coming from the device.

It takes her a bit of staring to remember what's more important. Her mom. Her Pokémon. A house. Burning.

Moon stands to her feet, a whole ton of feelings crashing down upon her as she turns to her helper to demand: "Return me to my home this instant!"

"Don't tell me," the voice says with hesitance, "are you…from another world?"

She blinks at him. "I'm from a _what_ now."

The figure rubs at its chin and then hoists her up. She shouts in protest, but their fingers curl firmly around her wrist and drag her forward.

"It isn't safe here," the thing in the rubber suit says. "If you aren't careful, Glutton will come to eat you."

"Glutton?" She asks then pauses with a frown. "I don't care about any of that. My mom and my Pokémon they're…they're all alone! They were in a burning building! And my Decidueye, my partner, he was…he was right next to me…right before…"

Her voice trails off as she remembers the creature of stardust and its light folding over her. She remembers the wormhole she was sucked into and spat out of and she feels herself growing pale as she notices her surroundings.

A land washed in light sits before her, but it's a land of broken buildings and abandoned ruins. All around her are crumbled towers of what once could be skyscrapers, buildings of brick and metal twisted into sad malformed shapes. Every now and then, a large pipe spitting out glowing purple water appears in their midst, the sound of gushing liquid making Moon's stomach gurgle.

"Where…where am I? What...what happened here?"

Her guide glances over at her, the orange goggles hiding the eyes beneath. "As I thought. The fact that you don't seem to recognize anything proves it. I don't know who you are but it's clear to me that you're a Faller."

"I'm sorry but you're speaking literal nonsense."

The figure gives a laugh. "I suppose it seems that way to you. I forget that our words and terms aren't universal." It tilts its head back towards her. "From what I can tell, you came here from another world. And by 'another world' I mean another universe entirely. Parallel universes, if you must. We call people who come from one world to the next Fallers. It's a fitting name for people who fall from wormholes into the next dimension."

Moon's head spins with the information. "I…that makes sense," she says at last, peering out into the landscape of an otherwise apocalyptic world. Its words are logical and line up with what little information she has. "Last I remember, there was no light in my world yet there's light here. And…nothing really looks familiar here, either. It's like something blew up and the whole city got flattened because of it."

"Something like that, yeah," her guide states with a shrug. "You aren't aware of it but there was a big nuclear bomb that went off world-wide. It destroyed a lot of this world as I knew it. Killed a lot of people, even my sister." The figure hangs its head. "I couldn't do anything to save her."

"I'm sorry," she says, softly. She knows what it's like to lose someone. Her dad, her grandparents…and now her mother and her Pokémon too. Moon frowns at the thought, a hand touching the gas mask on her face as she asks: "Is there a way back?"

Orange goggles glint in her direction. "A way back to your home, you mean?"

"Yeah." Moon hugs herself. "I want to return home. It wasn't a good place – kind of shitty, actually, when everything is dark as hell – but it was my world, a place I knew. This…this is…"

"Not home," the figure finishes for her, its voice almost sad in tone. "I understand your feelings. When everyone left this planet, I stayed behind. This is my home world. I couldn't bear to leave it behind."

She looks at it with a frown. "How did people leave this planet? Did they go to another planet in this universe or…another world?"

"The latter," it states.

"Do you…do you still have the ability to leave this world? Do you know how?"

The figure pauses to look back at her. "I do," he says, "but it's not what you might think."

She nods. "I want to know."

"Then I'll show you the way," it states, treading around a pool of purple sludge to throw a Pokeball clipped to its belt. Moon nearly starts in surprise when a bright beam of light blinds her and, out from it, emerges a creature Moon knows quite well.

Type: Null stares back at her, green eyes glowing from beneath its mask. The suited figure climbs atop of it, lending Moon a hand. She takes it with some hesitation, climbing onto the back of the creature with a nervous stare.

"I've only ever seen one person before who owned a Type: Null," Moon says, softly, as the figure kicks the side of his creature and it hurries off across the ruins. She wraps her arms around the figure's waist, feeling smooth rubber slide across her skin. "In my universe, a boy named Gladion owned one."

"What a coincidence," the figure says, patting Type: Null's neck.

She stares at it. "A coincidence?"

"Well," it says, "my name's Gladion and I own a Type: Null."

Moon nearly reels. "The Gladion I know doesn't wear a gray rubber suit."

"The Gladion you know is also from another universe," the figure – _the boy?_ \- shrugs his shoulders. "It figures that different versions of me would look differently. I imagine your Gladion isn't one living in a post apocalyptic world of nuclear proportions."

"No, you're right." She hugs the boy's waist tighter, feeling slightly more awkward as she watches the world race by her. Type: Null moves so effortlessly that she almost feels stunned by the gracefulness of its movements. For a beast wearing such a heavy mask, it moves as swiftly as a Pyroar, paws dancing on buildings of broken glass and crumbling ruins like it's nothing.

Eventually, however, the beast comes to a stop and sidles along the entrance to a pipe. It lowers itself at the entrance, allowing Moon and Gladion to slip off before being returned to its ball.

"In here," the boy says, stepping inside the pipe and ducking his head.

Moon follows after him, cautiously side-stepping various fragments of stuff she isn't sure about, and emerges into a room made in metal. She watches as the boy shuts a hatch behind him, sighing a bit before removing his outfit to reveal himself underneath.

The girl nearly has to stifle a gasp as she sees Gladion – her Gladion, the Gladion she knows from her other dimension – unfold before her. Blond hair and green eyes meet her gaze, and she can't help the conflicting feelings of wariness and familiarity that seeps into her.

"So you're this world's Gladion?" She asks, approaching him with caution. "You look…identical."

The boy snorts. "Of course I do. Statistically speaking, if I exist in this world, I'll exist in some other world too. Besides, with a name and Pokémon like mine, did you really expect me to not look like your Gladion?"

"But, I mean…" Moon flushes, "you're both…very different people even though you look the same. The him in my world was kind like you are, but I didn't feel like I could trust him. You, on the other hand, feel like someone who isn't out to get me."

Gladion discards his rubber boots and then looks at her. "Sad to see my other self left such a poor impression on you," he tosses away his boots haphazardly and then gives her something like a smile. "A shame, too. I get the feeling you're the kind of person I want to impress."

She raises both of her eyebrows and the boy raises a dismissive hand.

"I don't know much about your Gladion," he says, "only that it's possible to have met a version of me in another world. It's not an uncommon occurrence. If you exist here, it's likely you have a counterpart elsewhere. Just as I do. Just as my sister does. And my mother and father, too."

She sense the bitter vibe in his voice and shies away from asking the questions on the tip of her tongue.

"Regardless," he says, moving over to grab what seems to be a bracelet from a wall, "this is what you're here for."

"It's…a bracelet."

Gladion raises an eyebrow at her. "Yes, I suppose it is." He says, grabbing Moon's hand. She nearly jerks away in surprise at how hot his fingertips feel on her skin. "To you, anyways. But, in reality, it's what we of this universe called a Wormhole Jumper."

"…Because it allows its wearer to jump through wormholes to other worlds?"

The boy smiles again. "Yes. That." His grip tightens slightly on her wrist. "But, I'll only give it to you if you want it. I can't guarantee it'll take you home, but it _will_ take you away from here. And, anywhere is better than here."

She nods. "As long as you teach me how to use it, I would be grateful."

"That can be managed," the boy slips the bracelet on her wrist, latching it into place. She's a bit stunned by the gentleness of his touch, of the way his fingers ghost over her skin and seem to linger strangely. Gladion looks over his work and then nods in approval, stepping backwards. "There."

Moon observes the item on her wrist. It's a yellow band strapped with a blue screen and a button. It reminds her of a kid's toy, almost, and for a moment she can't take it seriously.

"In order to claim this as your own, you must put your finger on the screen," Gladion says, softly. Moon does as instructed and then peers at him. "Then, if you push that button, it'll up a wormhole you can travel through."

"Can I determine exactly which world I'll be going to?" She asks.

The boy reaches back to her head to remove her breathing mask. It clatters to the ground as Gladion only shrugs. "One thing I know is that you have no control over where it will take you. The people who made it weren't able to be precise about its location. They said it's likely it would send everyone to different worlds if they didn't leave together." Gladion gives a sad smile, almost reminiscent. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

She watches the way his posture falters and, with a pang of pity that hits her unexpectedly, she asks him: "Are you all alone here?"

"I have Type: Null," he says.

"Are you the only human here?"

Green eyes soften. "I'm the only one who's left on this planet, yes. Everyone else has left or died. I'll be next soon enough."

She watches him. He's begun to shrink away from her, his somewhat amiable attitude fading into something small and sad. It twists Moon's heart a little. She's not used to feeling sympathy for others, much less a boy who's a total stranger to her, but seeing Gladion's defeated gaze has her asking: "Come with me. If you're all alone, you should come somewhere where you can meet others too."

The boy jerks with surprise. "I can't," he says.

"Why not?"

"I…" His gaze shifts to the floor. "I want to stay here. It's kind of personal but…"

"This is your home too?"

A smile. "Yes."

They stand for silence in a bit before Moon raises up her wrist and presses the button the bracelet. It chirps in affirmation, gears whirling as it begins to generate a portal before her.

"It shouldn't take more than a minute or two for the wormhole to form," Gladion says. "Until then, I'll stay to watch you go."

Moon nods. "I appreciate that, thank you."

The boy gives another smile. She's beginning to notice how insincere they are, how they're steeped in sadness and a kind of misery that Moon feels like she understands. She wonders if the Gladion in her world is the same – kind but lonely, the kind of boy who faces an empty universe with nothing but a sense of duty and responsibility. It makes her feel a bit guilty to have turned away her own world's Gladion like the way she had. Maybe if she saw him again, she'd apologize for her caution towards him.

_If_ she saw him again.

The wormhole peels open, distorting the space in front of her until a shimmering vortex of white lines manifests. She glances at Gladion, who nods at her hesitance, and then looks forward with her determination set in steel.

"I guess I'll see you around," Gladion says. "Maybe not here but in the next world. If you've already met me twice before, you'll be sure to see me again, Faller."

The boy gestures to the wormhole before her and nods his head. "I wish you luck on finding your home world again, Faller."

"My name's Moon," she smiles a little as she steps close to the portal. "But thank you."

She pauses at the entrance to the wormhole, glancing back. Gladion watches her, his gaze careful, before he waves a hand almost shyly and bids her goodbye. Moon waves back to him, smiling, before jumping through the wormhole.

She misses the way Gladion's calls her name with regret stitched upon his lips.

* * *

I completely forgot to update with the second chapter but just got reminded today to do so ;;

I don't have much to say for this chapter except I loved writing for Gladion #2. He was fun. Next chapter's Gladion is also fun too. Though, to be fair, all the Gladion's are fun.

:3c

Also, as for comments:

Spencer841: Lol, glad the grimdarkness came across. I have a sore love from things that are grimdark (especially when contrasted with shows/games that are usually light-hearted and considered "childish" in nature) so I'm glad this came across that way *w* Ah, and feel free to point out the areas that need work in more depth if you want. I need to go back and correct chapter one anyways (and this chapter too probably) so if you like, I don't mind being pointed to where I've dropped periods in the wrong spot and whatnot.

leafeons: Thank you for the review here and on I Dream A Dream! You reminded me that I hadn't updated this story yet w/ the second chapter so here it is ^o^


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